Boyer previously collaborated with Giacchino and Simonec on the films Speed Racer and Mission: Impossible III, the latter of which, like Star Trek, was directed by J.J. Abrams. Boyer was also one of Giacchino's orchestrators on his score for the video game Medal of Honor: Airborne.

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Boyer was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and has been composing since he was fifteen years old. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Rhode Island College and later earned Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Rhode Island College awarded Boyer an honorary Doctor of Music degree in 2004.

While Boyer was still an undergraduate, USA Today included him in its first All-USA College Academic Team, comprised of "the 20 best and brightest college students in the nation," in 1990. That same year, he was among the five honored with a Young American Award for his achievements and his inspiration to youth.

In 1994, The Hartt School awarded Boyer the Norman J. Bayles Memorial Award in Composition. He later won BMI Student Composer Awards for two of his compositions, Mosaic in 1994 and Titanic in 1996. In between, he won the New World Chamber Ensemble composition competition for his Capriccio and he was awarded the Harry Warren Film Scoring Prize by the University of California's School of Music.

In 1997, he was awarded a First Music Carnegie Hall commission; the resulting composition, The Phoenix, was premiered at Carnegie Hall the following year. In 2001, Boyer won the Ithaca College Heckscher Prize for his composition called Ghosts of Troy. He has also been named alumnus of the year by both of his alma maters, Rhode Island College (in 1998) and The Hartt School (in 2001).

Boyer's major work is his composition Ellis Island: The Dream of America, which premiered in 2002. Four years later, this work earned him a nomination at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

Boyer has conducted recordings of his music with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia. His compositions have been performed in numerous venues and played on radio broadcasts worldwide. In total, his orchestral works have received nearly two hundred public performances, by seventy different orchestras.

In addition to his work with Giacchino, Boyer contributed orchestrations to the 1997 animated film Babes in Toyland (which featured the voice of Christopher Plummer) and the 1997 mini-series Rough Riders (which featured Brian Keith, Mark Moses, Marshall R. Teague, and Titus Welliver). He later conducted music for an episode of the Fox Network television series Boston Public, on which Jeri Ryan was a regular cast member. He also was an orchestrator for the 73rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony in 2001.

Boyer contributed orchestrations to scores of late composer Michael Kamen on three feature films: the 2003 western Open Range, the 2004 sports drama Against the Ropes, and the 2004 romantic comedy First Daughter. He also contributed orchestrations to the score for the 2005 film Fantastic Four, based on the popular Marvel Comics characters.

Boyer composed music for four episodes of The History Channel series ''Engineering an Empire. More recently, he was an orchestrator on the 2008 films Pineapple Express (which featured Ed Begley, Jr.) and Punisher: War Zone (another film inspired by a Marvel Comics character).